Hungry for justice and democracy?


0:59 YouTube video: "517 Protest Ad - 呷飽沒？ 特權呷飽飽 台灣去了了"
Translation: Have you eaten yet? [a typical Taiwanese greeting]
The privileged fill their bellies while Taiwanese starve
What's a "517"?
On May 17, 2009, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP, 民進黨) will hold a rally on Taipei's Ketagalan Blvd. (凱達格蘭大道) to protest the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) government's pro-China policies which continue to hurt the people of Taiwan.

Since Ma took office in May 2008, 1 million people have lost their jobs, raising the measurable unemployment to 6 percent. But that doesn't tell the whole story.

Still others (like my wife) are "partially unemployed" -- that is, their hours have been cut. Others have it worse than that -- they are on forced unpaid leave.

Claiming that they want China to help rescue the economy, the Ma government continues to push policies that the public has no information about, and they keep bringing Taiwan closer and closer to being annexed by authoritarian China. They even want to sign an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA, 經濟合作架構協議) with China, even though China will only use such an agreement to trap Taiwan and gain benefits exclusively for themselves.

Read more about that here:
EDITORIAL: ECFA: An instrument of betrayal

At the same time, the Ma government continues pushing for changes to the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法), but their proposed changes to the current law will make it more like the even more oppressive laws of Singapore.

The "fortunate sons" (and daughters and spouses) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT, 中國國民黨) aristocracy (貴族, the so-called "high-class mainlanders") get all the benefits while the people of Taiwan are growing hungrier and hungrier -- and not only for food.

Are you just gonna sit there and take it?!

Get it while it's hot!
Use your right to protest while you still can! Show the world that all the news that paints Ma Ying-jeou as "China-friendly" in contrast to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) -- whom the media constantly painted as a "troublemaker" merely because he tried to protect Taiwan's sovereignty -- is pure propaganda to cover Ma's betrayal of Taiwan.

The only way to change things is to let the world see with their own eyes that Ma is not a "popular president."

Get your asses out there -- by the millions! -- on Sunday, May 17, 2009, and be an important part of Taiwan's history.

Times, places, themes...
Here's a map and some info about the routes:


517 march route map
(Click to enlarge)
* Route 1 (Guard Sovereignty) begins on Zhongxiao E. Rd. at the Dinghao Shopping Plaza

* Route 2 (Protect the Unemployed) begins on Minzu W. Rd. at the Zhongshan Soccer Stadium

* Route 3 (Secure Taiwan) begins at the corner of Xinsheng and Roosevelt Roads at the main gate of National Taiwan University

* Route 4 (Help the Underprivileged) begins on Bangka/Manka Avenue (in Mandarin, it's "Mengjia," but it should be pronounced in Hoklo) at the Wanhua Train Station

Here's a Google map showing all four routes.

Here's more info from the DPP web site which includes other ad spots, images, maps, and English translations of the slogans related to the themes of the protest:

「馬英九 你吃飽沒？」Are you satisfied?/Are you stuffed?

「保台灣 顧主權 救失業 護弱勢」Secure Taiwan, Guard Sovereignty, Protect Unemployed, Help Unprivileged

「反傾中 護台灣」 China no! Taiwan yes!

「反對無能政府」KMT, Kick out!/Kick out the KMT!

「反對一中市場」One China market, Go Away!

「ECFA要公投」E-C-F-A! We want a referendum! / Referendum! E-C-F-A!

「堅持主權 守護台灣」Stand for Sovereignty, Take care of Taiwan

「台灣 加油」 Viva Taiwan!

「民進黨 加油」Gear Up, DPP!

Marchers should gather at 2:00 PM and begin marching at 3:00. This will conclude with a rally on Ketagalan Blvd. (in front of the Presidential Office) at 5:00. After the rally, DPP members will stage a 24-hour sit-in.

Got posters?
Check out the designs on this page, or create your own and mail them to me (address is in the sidebar).

FURTHER READING:
* Lyrics to "Fortunate Son" on the Creedence Online web site

* A Wikipedia article about the song

* Snopes disproves the meme that the song was inspired by Al Gore, Jr. in an article which contains this poignant quote from John Fogerty himself:

Nixon was always saying 'peace with honor' and 'my country, love it or leave it,' but we knew better 'cause the guy was obviously evil.

Remember that Dick, Nixon -- the crook who sold us all out to Mao Zedong? Ma Ying-jeou is the new Nixon.

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Pixels for your brainscreen: Taiwan, 台灣, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, 經濟合作架構協議, ECFA, Assembly and Parade Law, 集會遊行法, protest, 抗議

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Assembly and Parade Law, ECFA, Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, Ma Ying-jeou, protest, Taiwan, 台灣, 抗議, 經濟合作架構協議, 集會遊行法, 馬英九